World

This man provided free Wi-Fi to refugees stranded in Greece

Ilias Papadopoulos installs a new access point in the refugee camp in Idomeni, Greece.

By JULIUS MOTAL2016-03-18 20:27:12 UTC

IDOMENI, Greece—Perhaps one of the last things you'd expect to find in a refugee camp is Wi-Fi signal.

Yet, in Idomeni, the Greek village bordering Macedonia, there is a connection with the easily understood name "Free."

The connection was brought to Idomeni by Ilias Papadopoulos, a Greek electrical engineer, who built the infrastructure inside an old trailer in September 2015. Papadopoulos lives in Thessaloniki, a city about an hour’s drive south of Idomeni.

"I had the idea for free Wi-Fi at the beginning," said Papadopoulos, who first went to the camp in August 2015 to see how he could help.

Ilias Papadopoulos stands for a portrait outside of the trailer in which he built an infrastructure that provides Wi-Fi to refugees in Idomeni.

Image: JULIUS MOTAL

He saw that most refugees had smartphones, but without SIM cards or any reliable connection, they had no real way to communicate. There was no infrastructure, at the camp back then, he said.

"He's a life saver."

In the months since, Idomeni’s population has ballooned from a few thousand to nearly 13,000 — nearly a third of the refugees currently stranded in Greece. The camp in Idomeni is built to hold somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 people at any given time. With little help from authorities, support for the refugees is provided mostly by volunteers and NGOs.

Realizing that access to information and being able to communicate is particularly critical for the refugees, Papadopoulos set about gathering the materials he would need to build a Wi-Fi station that would stay on all the time.

"He's a life saver," said Yazan, a Syrian refugee who spoke on condition that only his first name be used. "It's really good thinking."

Over the course of four weeks and spending about 5,000 Euros of his own money, Papadopoulos built a self-sustaining Wi-Fi hub that could be accessed remotely. A solar panel powers the station during the day and recharges the two high-capacity batteries that run overnight.

"I don't trust the power grid," Papadopoulos said of his decision to power the station independently.

A souped-up secondhand laptop serves as the control panel for the whole operation. Two ADSL lines provide the modest, but reasonably reliable connection that is fed to various access points throughout the camp. An ADSL connection runs through the same line as your telephone that caps at around 10 Megabits per second.

Part of the infrastructure that provides Wi-Fi to refugees in Idomeni, Greece.

Image: JULIUS MOTAL

Ideally, Papadopoulos would have VDSL connections, which are much faster than ADSL, but Idomeni lacks that kind of connectivity. The access point is a domed-white disc that glows green if it’s a single-band access point or a blue if it’s dual-band.

The refugees in Idomeni are from a variety of countries — Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan among them — with different levels of experience with technology. The smartphones in the camp go from the very basic to some of the most advanced. Some of those smartphones can only access single-band connections, whereas others can access dual-band.

Papadopoulos' decision to have both kinds of access points available means more people can access the Wi-Fi. Currently, there are eight access points throughout the camp.

A secondhand laptop monitors the upload and download speeds and the number of users on the Wi-Fi network in the refugee camp in Idomeni, Greece.

Image: JULIUS MOTAL

There are, however, limits. Each access point can only handle 120 users at a time, which means that the current system can handle 960 users at any given time. With nearly 15,000 people in Idomeni, the connection can slow to a trickle during the day, but at night, when many turn in to their tents to sleep, the access points are less clogged.

It's a boon for the people in Idomeni, some of whom have been there two weeks or more, waiting for any news about the border.

Everyone "are using Wi-Fi to connect to their relatives because most families scattered because of the wars in their home countries," said Sinan, a refugee from Iraq, who’s been in Idomeni with his family for nearly two weeks. He asked that only his first name be used.

Ilias Papadopoulos climbs a ladder to reroute electricity from a generator inside a warehouse.

Image: JULIUS MOTAL

Communication with loved ones is crucial for the refugees, particularly for those who are traveling alone.

Throughout the crisis, smartphones have played a vital role.

Throughout the crisis, smartphones have played a vital role, particularly with GPS and Facebook groups providing much needed information. Things can change on a dime anywhere along the route, whether it's a recently closed border or sharing warnings about heavy police presence.

As the border with Macedonia remains closed, Idomeni's future remains uncertain. Buses have started taking refugees from Idomeni to elsewhere in Greece as the country figures out how to effectively house them until they can be relocated elsewhere in Europe, as part of the European Union's official relocation program.

Should the camp in Idomeni close, Papadopoulos can pack up his Wi-Fi station and move it to another camp in Greece, though he's looking to install Wi-Fi in several other camps. Currently, he's working to find sponsors to help fund more installations.

But for now at least those in Idomeni are connected to the rest of the world.

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